Heel-alining means for lasts.



No. 810,594. PATENTED JAN. 23, 1906. E. C. WRIGHT.

HEEL ALINING MEANS FOR LASTS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.12, 1905.

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110.910,594. PATENTED 11111.29, 1900. E. 0. 1111-1110111.y

HEEL ALINING MEANS FOR LASTS. APPLIGATION FILED 11111.12, 1905.

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gbi a I v No. 810,594.

PATENTED JAN.'23, 1906. E. C. WRIGHT.

HEEL ALINING MEANS POR LASTS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12. 1905.

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AUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HEEL-ALINING MEANS Fon LASTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 23, 1906.

Application filed January l2, 1905. Serial No. 240,675.

1'0 a/L whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, ELLERY C. WRIGHT, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Campello, in the county of Plymouth and State i Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Heel-Aiming Means for Lasts, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a speciiication, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

As now commonly practiced the alinement or proper location and positioning of the heel of a shoe is determined by the eye of the operator, so that it results that in a large factory some heels are in proper line or position and others are not, according to the skill of the particular workman.

Accordingly my invention consists of means for automatically and invariably securing the correct positioning of the heel on the shoe with relation to the last.

To make my invention more clearly understood, let it be remembered that in applying a heel to a shoe the heel is held rmly by the heeling-machine, while the shoe on the last is placed bottom up on a spindle or post beneath the heel, said spindle entering the last thimble or socket, and then the operator grasps the toe ofthe shoe and last and swings the shoe around until, according to his best judgment, it is in correct position with relation to the heel, whereupon the heeling-machine is caused to secure the heel in place. As, however, lasts are not only made right and left, but are usually more or less crooked and are continually varying in dimensions and shape, the liability of getting the heel on square is uncertain; but as the last is the controlling member I have devised means for insuring that the last shall always assume exactly the right position, thereby eliminating the skill and judgment of the operator and automatically insuring the correct positioning of the heel.

My invention consists in first locating what I term the centerline of the last and then providing two holes or thimbles on said center line extending perpendicularly to the bottom of the last, one of these thimbles being the usual spindle-socket and the other being an alining-socket to cooperate with an auxiliary pin or spindle on the heeling-machine, or, in other Words, I locate these two thimbles or holes in a plane extending at right angles to the normal breast-line ofthe heel.

My invention Will be more fully understood in connection with the following description, taken with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of a last constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, partially broken away. Figs. 3, 7, and 8 are plan views of last-bottoms or patterns, and Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are diagrammatic views showing the contour or transverse sectional outline of sample styles of lasts at the Widest portion of the heel.

Viewing Fig. 1 (which represents a common construction and type of crooked last) it will be seen that the cone a of the last a does not extend at right angles to the breastline a2 of the heel nor in alinement with the toe a3 of the last, the direction of said cone being indicated by the line at. The commonly-accepted usage is to provide the thimble I) of the last in the center of the cone at the place indicated by the dotted circle b, and then thel operator naturally swings the last on the center of said circle b as a pivot into alinement with the toe a3. The result is that the heel is placed on a shoe as indicated by the line h instead of coinciding with the contour of the heel ofthe shoe (corresponding to that ofthe last, as indicated at a5) and having its breast-line at a2, and even if the operator should have the skill and judgment to swing the toe so as to bring the breast of the heel into alinement with the breast-line a2 it is obvious that the heel would even then be shifted to one side of the proper position, as indicated by the dotted line h. This results from the fact that lasts are extremely peculiar and deceptive in shape, the cone very seldom extending in the direction of the center line of the last, sometimes diverging toward one side of the toe and sometimes toward the other, and being very seldom vertically over the center of the bottom of the heel. For example, I have shown in Figs. 4 to 6 Well-known styles of last-cones, said gures indicating the contour of the lasts in the vertical transverse planes of the widest parts of the heel-i. e., through the axial line of the spindle-thimble b-where I have indicated by the lines a a7 as the central vertical plane or center line of the last, and it will be seen that in each instance it does not coincide with the middle of the cone, which is indicated by the lines a,9 am au. According to my inven- IOO IIO

tion I locate the spindle-sockets coaxially of this center line aG a7 a?, Whereas the present construction would require the thimble-axes to coincide with the center of the cone c @1 au. Having located the spindle socket or thimble b properly, the next step in the manufacture of the last according to my invention is to locate an independent alining thimble or socket c behind said spindle-socket in such position that it will invariably cause the last to assume exactly the right position with relation to the heel in the theeling-machine. I find the proper location for this auxiliary or independent alining-thimble by running a line along the bottom of the last through the axis of thimble b and perpendicular to the breast-line a2, or, stated in other words, longitudinally of the last and coinciding with the center w12 of the rear end of the bottom of the heel and the axial line of the thimblesocket, (when correctly found as above explained.) This line does not coincide with the toe a3 ofthe last, as would be expected in casually looking at the last along the bottom thereof, (as the operator is required to do in the present system of heeling, where he uses his judgment in Swingin the last and shoe to heeling position,) but fa ls at one side thereof usually, although not always, at the outside thereof. This center line is indicated by the dotted line cl3 in the drawings, where I have shown diierent well-known types of crooked lasts, by which I mean lasts wherein said center line does not coincide with the normal trend of the last. In Fi 1 I have indicated by a line a,14 the norma trend of the last or straight-ahead direction in which the operator would naturally hold the last and shoe as at present constructed, whereas the last should assume the deflected position in which it is shown in the drawings, thereby bringing the line 0.13 into the straight-ahead position. In Fig. 7 I have shown what is known as a medium-toe last, and in Fig. 8 a straight London style, while Fig. 8 shows the common narrow opera style, and in each instance it will be seen that the proper placing of the heel actually requires that the toe of the last shall be deiiected to the right in order to bring its center line (L13 straight ahead, (so as to be perpendicular to the breast-line a2 of the heel.) If a last-bottom were truly symmetrical, having its opposite sides precisely the same as indicated by the line (L15, Fig. 3, then the center line w13 would actually be the longitudinal middle of the pattern or last-bottom ak", and this affords still another means of accurately locating said center line-viz., simply by projecting from the heel contour 0,5 a straight or slipper form, as indicated at af, and then creasing the paper pattern thereof down the middle. I prefer to attain the same result with less labor simply by similarly locating 4the middle line between the opposite wide portions of the heel-bottom outline a. The breast-line a2 usually corresponds with the front edge of the heel-plate.

I-Iaving thus accurately determined the true center line of the last, I bore two holes downwardly in the cone of the last perpendicular to the bottom, so that their axes are in the vertical plane of said center line irrespective of whether or not said holes come in the center of the cone, one of said holes constituting the spindle-socket, and therefore being located in the transverse plane of the widest portion of the last-heel, and the other hole being preferably smaller and located at the rear thereof to receive, respectively, the thimbles l) and c. These thimbles are supported on transverse bolts d d', (in the manner explained in my Patent No. 642,945 of February 6, 1900,) and the rear thimble is preferably made of steel and adds greatly to the strength and serviceableness of the last in use.

When a last constructed according to my invention is a plied to the heeling-machine, (provided wit spindles corresponding to the holes in the last,) the last is thereby brought automatically into absolutely correct position, so that the heel is secured to the shoe in correct alinement not only with the breastline a2, but with the curved heel contour 0,5, rendering unnecessary the shaping and trimming which now invariably are required for preventing a misshapen ungainly ap earance due to the improperly-located hee If for any reason the positioning of the said two spindles of the lasting-machine should be changed, the position of the holes and thimbles of my last would obviously be corres ondingly changed, and I consider any such c ange as coming within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I-make no claim to the provision of two holes in a last-heel, my invention residing in combining the same with the crooked last in such manner and location as to automatically aline the heel properly in the heeling operation, whereas the auxiliary hole which was once used in lasts was simply for holding the last steady and preventing its whirling around on a jack when it was desired to manipulate or treat the shoe in a steady position.

I-Iaving described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A crooked last, whose heel contains two independent thimbles extending from the cone part way to the bottom of the last and having their axes extending perpendicular to the bottom in the plane 'of the center line extending midway between the opposite sides of the heel and at right angles to the normal breast-line of said heel.

2. The combination, with the usual jackspindle socket of a crooked last, wherein the center line as herein described does not coin-V IOO IIO

cide with the normal trend of the last, of an the bottom of the last midway between the alining-hole located in the wood of the last at opposite sides of the heel at the Wider porthe rear of said socket in the same axial plane tions of the bottom edges thereof. with the axis of said socket extending at right In testimony whereof I have signed my 5 angles to the normal breast-line of the heel. name to this specification in the presence of I5 3. A last of the kind herein described, two subscribing witnesses.

wherein the center line diverges from the ELLERY C. WRIGHT. normal trend of the last, containing two n- Witnesses: dependent thimbles located in the heel with F. S. FAXON,

Io their axes in the plane extending' vertically of EARL I. BLAKE. 

